Three seconds. That’s all AI needs to clone your voice with 85% accuracy. Not three minutes. That Instagram story you posted? Voicemail greeting? More than enough.
Researchers say voice cloning has crossed the indistinguishable threshold. Fakes sound so real that 70% of people can’t tell the difference. Scammers are having a field day.
🔊 Tools are easy to find
ElevenLabs is the biggest name in AI voice cloning. Upload a minute of audio, and it spits back a near-perfect copy of your voice in 29 languages. Resemble AI does it from 10 seconds. Descript and PlayHT offer similar features. These are legitimate tools built for podcasters and filmmakers.
Scammers use them and open-source tools. The dark web has more powerful versions with no identity checks.
The playbook is simple.
Grab a clip of your kid’s voice from social media, clone it, call you in a panic: “Mom, I’ve been in an accident. I need money.” One woman lost $15,000 after hearing her “daughter” crying on the phone. 77% of people who received a cloned voice call lost money.
🛡️ Your bank’s voice ID danger
Banks push voice authentication like it’s Fort Knox. When I tried to opt out of my bank’s voice ID, they gave me hassles, calling it “increased security.” Really?
A BBC reporter used a cloned voice to break into her accounts at two major banks by playing the phrase “my voice is my password.” A Business Insider reporter did the same thing with a service costing a few bucks a month.
Even OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said at a Federal Reserve conference that voice authentication is “a crazy thing to still be doing. AI has fully defeated that.”
Protect yourself now:
- Set a family code word. If anyone calls in a crisis, ask for it. No code word, no money.
- Hang up and call back on a number you have saved. Not the one they called from.
- Lock down social media. Every clip is raw material for a scammer.
- Call your bank and opt out of voice authentication. Push back if they resist. A onetime access code is safer.
I guess you could say AI has really found its voice. Unfortunately, it’s yours.
🗣️ TEXT/POST THIS STAT: AI can clone your voice in 3 seconds, and 70% of people can’t tell the difference. Set a family code word today. GetKim.com
Know someone who’d fall for a call from their “kid” in trouble? Forward this. That code word conversation could save them thousands.